Congress to hold mega rally over SIR exercise next month | Details
While the meeting was presided over by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal were among those present.
New Delhi: The Congress is planning to hold a mega rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi next month. It is likely to be held in the first week of December. The rally will be held days after a nationwide campaign on allegations of vote chori, under which the party collected 5 crore signatures from across the country.
A meeting of state Congress presidents, general secretaries, CLP leaders, in charge, secretaries, and other senior leaders was held on Tuesday. While the meeting was presided over by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal were among those present.
‘Cong committed in safeguarding integrity of electoral rolls’
Addressing the party leaders, Kharge said that the Congress was committed to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral rolls. He also called the conduct of the Election Commission on SIR ‘deeply disappointing.’
"It must immediately demonstrate that it is not operating under the BJP's shadow and it remembers its Constitutional oath and allegiance to the people of India, not to any ruling party," news agency ANI quoted Kharge as saying in the meeting.
He accused the BJP of trying to weaponise the SIR process for vote-chori. "And if the EC chooses to look the other way, that failure is not just administrative - it becomes a complicity of silence", the Congress president said.
Will expose every attempt to delete genuine voters: Kharge
Kharge added, "We will expose every attempt, however subtle, to delete genuine voters or insert bogus ones", he warned, adding, "The Congress Party will not allow democratic safeguards to be eroded by partisan misuse of institutions."
Talking to reporters later, Venugopal alleged that even as the SIR would normally take six months to a year for completion but the "process is being rushed through within one month". He also alleged that some BLOs in Rajasthan, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh have committed suicide due to the pressure of work.